Waterberg Plateau

In the afternoon we arrived at the town Outjo and happily filled our tank which was far away from being empty. Then we decided for the first campsite along the street which was part of a Lodge so we could use the bar, internet and all other amenities and happily took chance of that. The lodge seemed to be the last stop for old-people-buses on their way to Etosha Nationalpark, so we were by far the youngest, but nevermind, we were busy internetting (after being a week off) and playing with the Kudu calf that was running around on the property.

Initially we also wanted to go to Etosha from there, but then we learnt about the Waterberg Plateau, a private game reserve with lots of rare animals, a 2 hours drive south from Outjo. So the next day we went to that reserve and booked a game watching drive for the evening, which was recommended to us. We found it very expensive, but expected to go on the plateau and see rare animals. Unfortunately that was not the case. We drove around in the bushes with 4 other Germans in a typical tourist vehicle and honestly, driving by ourselves through the countryside we’ve seen much more animals than on that guided tour. But okay, they spied out a couple of White Rhinos (brought into the reserve from South Africa, not even real locals!) which we could approach by walking up very close. We just had to give them a minimum distance and they were calm. Once they moved, we had to move as well to keep the distance. They were busy munching in the evening sun and appeared very peaceful. It was exciting to stand so close to them but knowing, that if they wanted, they could easily overrun us. And that was pretty much the highlight of the 3 hours drive. The inevitable springboks and kudus were everywhere of course and also oryx and warthogs could be easily spotted.

The one good thing about this reserve were the walking tracks, a much welcomed opportunity to move the legs instead of the wheels. Even though there was not much to see, as wildlife is more likely to run of when humans without cars approach, we enjoyed the little exercise.
Our pool at the campsite:

 the imported White Rhino

Good bye coast - back inland

Yes, the Skeleton coast was somehow a bit of a disappointment. We took a huge detour in order to see it. The entry gate posted a promising info sheet, that a male lion is roaming the coast. But of course, in a national park of almost 17.000 km² it is very unlikely that he’s showing up along the one road. As already said, the coast is cold, damp, windy and foggy. For very long time we saw nothing but the road and some few meters left and right. No shipwrecks (what the coast is famous for) and for sure no lion. At one point we followed a signposted shipwreck down to the beach, but there was nothing to be seen except fog and cold Atlantic waves… and then we also got stuck in the sand. The last thing you wanted is having to get out of the car, but we had no choice. 4x4 didn’t get us out anymore and you can imagine how much our mood dropped after we’ve traveled through that depressing coastal strip for half a day… However, by releasing tyre pressure we managed to move the car out of the sand and pretty much escaped from the beach. Only afterwards we realized that this was the last time for a very long time to come that we’ve seen the Atlantic coast. None of us was any sad about it…

The initial plan to camp on the coast was skipped and so after leaving the national park (at least we didn’t have to pay for this one) we headed inland again. As we didn’t plan to travel so long during the day we were a bit under time pressure to find a camp site (as we are not allowed to drive after dark). Even though it got warmer and drier again, the landscape was scarce, brownish and no wildlife showed up. In the late afternoon hours we came close to the campsite which was set-up by an organization to save the White Rhino. But we weren’t sure if the camp was still operated as the Lonely Planet is 3 years old and the road was rough. It was so bad that we couldn’t go faster than 20km/h and sometimes I even had to get out and direct John through the spikey rocks sticking out of the surface, very likely to cause punctures. But we had no choice, this camp or we had to camp in the wild. So we stayed on that horrible road for 11km and were very happy to find a campsite at the end indeed. The most basic one we’ve been to, with toilets not more than a hole in the ground and a “shower” which was a bucket that you could lift over your head. But it didn’t matter, we were happy to be there, slightly amused about the warning signs (see below), but not overly worried, as all animals had left because of the drought. But to the toilet we better walked together ;-)

The night was very quiet, no animals came across the tent and it was so hot, that we had all 4 sides of the tent open (and secretly I was hoping to spy out nocturnal animals from there). But as usual, we fell asleep rather early and woke up with the rising sun.

The next day we had a long drive ahead of us and a slight worry about the tank as we were not sure how far the 2^nd tank, the normal tank of the Toyota , would bring us. And additionally the road was painfully bad. For a distance of 80km we needed 2.5hours and we were so sick of it. Not only that we didn’t really move, there was also nothing to see, no wildlife, no settlements, no interesting landscape… it was time to move on to some more interesting part of Namibia.

Ancient art

Let me just say one thing about Namibia, its dry dry and dry. The small exception is when you are on the coast. For some reason the coast seems to be perpetually cloudy and foggy. I guess this is why there have been so many shipwrecks and also how this stretch of coast got its name, the “Skeleton Coast”. But the cloud only lingers about a mile inland so once you start to head back out into the desert the sunshine is back with a vengeance and the temperature literally jumps 10 degrees. So after our rather damp night in Swakopmumd it was time to head back into the desert and get away from the damp cloudy conditions.

We started driving fairly late as the morning was filled with kayaking amongst the seals and a rather rubbish attempt at sand boarding, give me a snow board any day, so we were a bit worried if we would make our next camp site before dark. We were headed north east to the “White Lady” camp site which is nestled at the bottom of the Brandberg Mountains. Luckily the road was pretty good so we made good time and arrived just as it was getting dark. Unfortunately this did mean setting up camp and cooking in the dark but with the use of some torches and candles we managed pretty well.

The reason we travelled to this site was to see the “White Lady” cave drawing. Now let me just say that whilst it is called the White Lady it’s not actually a picture of a lady but rather a medicine man. And how do we know it’s a man well you just have to look at the anatomy. It is estimated between 2000 and 4000 years old and well worth the hour guided walk. If you look closely at the picture you will also notice there are many animal drawings as well.  Our guide told us that the animal drawings represented a way for the bushmen to communicate where the water was and what animals were in the area.

Not far from here is an area known as Twyfelfontein. Whilst there were no actually paintings here this site does contain many rock engravings. Apparently they are older than the paintings and depict many of the same animals and were used in much the same way as an early communication tool. For example an animal like a Giraffe which needs water every day might be engraved and whichever way it faced that was where there would most likely be water.

All in all visiting these sites was a great cultural and learning experience. Just standing there and imagining one of our ancestors creating these drawings thousands of years ago really did make me feel connected to the past and also made me realize just how far we have come in such a short amount of time.

 Arriving at the campsite just during sunset

 Making friends with the yellow-billed hornbill

 the "white-lady painting" including lots of springboks

 our guide Colin

 various rock carvings at Twyftelfontein

 rare carving: the lion which's tail growth into a human hand symbolizing a medicine man

Swakopmund/Walvis Bay

Now it was time to hit the coast again. We’ve heard and read a lot about Swakopmund, a town with a reputation of being “more German  than the Germans”. And indeed it looked a bit like Germany 20 years ago. An old-stylish bakery, lots of German names on business signs and everything was shut on Saturday afternoon, it was even dead. Except one little street in which the “Swakopmunder Karnevalsverein” celebrated whatever carnival there is to celebrate in late May… And it was cold, cloudy, just uncormfortable. The wind from the sea was strong and cold and it wasn’t inviting at all to do anything outdoors. Unfortunately when camping everything is outdoors so we entered a restaurant for dinner (and watching Champions League final), got our clothes washed and dediced to leave the next morning. But then we learnt about Jeanne’s sea-kayaking tours and we decided to do this the next morning. That was a great decision!

Very early and chilled to the bone we started with a group of people to drive to Pelican Point where we should go out in the kayaks. We saw lots of flamingos and other water birds at the lagoon and a few jackals which feed from the flamingos. And as there are so many of them and they are not the smartest or fastest birds, the jackals pretty much kill as many as they please, have a bite here, a bite there and the lagoon was covered with lots of flamingo body-parts… nothing to be sad about our guide Jeanne told us, as nature will sort out the rest.

 

Once in the kayaks we visited a seal colony, or better, the seal colony visited US! There were thousands of seals in that colony and it felt like all of them hopped in the water to examine our kayaks, play with the paddles or just jump dolphin-like along. They didn’t get tired of us and we paddled around and played with them (especially the younger seals were curious). After 90minutes of seals we wanted to see the dolphins, but we couldn’t spot more than the fins and had to accept, that dolphins didn’t want to play with slow kayaks, they prefer faster motorboats… However, the seal-experience was simply unique and even though it was foggy, windy and cold, we weren’t that cold anymore and could even enjoy the picnic on the beach.

After that we decided we’ve had enough of the coast, warmed up while sandboarding (or at least trying) in the dunes, just a few kilometers inland and then headed off to something warmer and sunnier.

 

Sossusvlei

After our test-camping night we headed back to Windhoek to stock up with water (beginners that we are we’d forgotten about it) and a fry-pan. But then we were ready for the big trip and wanted to travel south to Sossusvlei, a national park with impressive red sand dunes and huge white pans. Shortly after we left the city the road turned gravel and didn’t change back. 80km/h is the max speed you would want (and are allowed) to drive on gravel roads so we had lots of time to enjoy the dreary, reddish, rocky landscape. No animals crossed our way and so all we had to look out for were potholes. As we are blessed with air-condition in the car we didn’t realize how the temperatures increased the further we went south and so suddenly, when we got out of the car at our campsite 4 hours later, we were hit by 31 degrees and a warm strong desert wind. It was too late in the day to check out the dunes immediately so we set up the tent and admired the facilities. We had our own shower and toilet directly onto a shady patio next to which we parked the car. We were the only guests and yes, everything around us looked very desert-ly, were scarce, no people or animals in sight. But… what was this? A pool in the middle of the desert! Knowing that it might not be the most environmentally friendly thing to set up in a dry country, we were more than happy about the refreshment in our private oasis!

The darker it got, the more animals came out and we felt very exposed to springboks, jackals and who-knows-what-else. But god thanks we have a rooftop tent! As usual in the desert, it got rather cold at night, so an additional blanket over the sleeping bags was needed.

Even though I had a horrible night (feeling like the only 2 persons in the desert where nobody would hear you scream didn’t give me good dreams at all) the next morning was beautiful with coffee in the warming sunshine, little birds crowding the patio and all facilities so conveniently close by. It didn’t feel like camping to be fair, but it made everything sooo easy. For long we should dream of this camp site as it was hard to find something similar.

However, we had dune to climb and another 1 hour drive in the national park (with tarred road, because everybody paid entrance fee) took us to “Big mama” the highest dune in the national park. Even though we didn’t see many cars, the parking lot there was very busy and the dune itself, too. We started at about 9:30 a.m. which is definitely the last possibility in the morning to do this because the later you started, the hotter it got. The ridge of the dune was well worn out but therefore better to climb. It was hot, the desert wind was hot and the sun was shining merciless, the landscape was red and all you could see were dunes and white pans, but the 2 adventurers of has had a target and that was the peak. After a lot of sweat & swearing we reached it, but the real highlight was the way down: direct way down, one step – 2 meters covered, sand in the shoes? Yes, definitely, but sooo much fun. And as we’d already learned from Walt Disney: the desert is alive, so sand beetles and little geckos witnessed our trip. And a lonely, unhappy looking oryx was standing in the middle of the empty “Dead Pan”, unsure, what it wanted there, the next food or water source miles away…

As no wind was blowin on the way back, we were dying to reach the car and happily called it a day even though it was only noon. Okay, one last stopover at the Sesriem Canyon and then we spent the rest of the day at our desert pool, getting blow dried by the warm desert wind.

 Namibian landscape

our "house"

our pool

  our neighbours

dune up

 dune down

 oryx in the white pan... can you see it?

Sesriem Canyon